Japanese Honeysuckle is a
plant almost everyone knows. Children love it, because they
can suck the sweet nectar
from its flowers. Many adults hate it, since it grows
quickly and can strangle other plants.

Japanese Honeysuckle can
be a shrub
or a vine.
Usually it's seen as a vine, growing up tree trunks or
covering another shrub.

This plant was brought
here from Asia and has spread steadily. It is is usually
seen on the edges of woods, streams, or roads. It also lives
in fields and gardens.

Japanese Honeysuckle has
three-inch leaves which are green and oval-shaped. They are
opposite, which means two leaves grow as a pair from the
same spot on the stem, but on opposite sides.

Japanese Honeysuckle is
best known for its sweet-smelling flowers. They are white at
first, turning yellow as they get older. Flowers are also in
pairs, and each flower can reach one and a half inches long.
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, bees, and other insects visit
the flowers for nectar. They also help pollinate
the plant, taking pollen from one flower to
another.

Pollination is how a
plant can grow fruit, which holds seeds,
which can grow into new plants. If honeysuckle doesn't get
pollinated, it can't spread and grow new plants.

Honeysuckle fruits are
small black beries, about 1/4 inch wide. Many birds eat
them, including Tufted Titmouse, Northern Bobwhite, American
Goldfinch, Northern Mockingbird, and Eastern Bluebird. Birds
help the plants spread by pooping seeds out in new
places.

Japanese Honeysuckle is a
fast-growing climber. As it gets older, it develops a thick,
woody stem. It is very strong and does not break
easily.

This vine can climb
trees, wrapping itself around the tree and covering branches
with its own stems and leaves. If the tree can not get light
to its leaves, or if the honeysuckle plant is soaking up all
the water through its roots, the tree could die. This makes
Japanese Honeysuckle a parasite.

Honeysuckle can quickly
smother a shrub and it can cover low-growing plants as well.
Many plants cannot compete with honeysuckle.

Many small animals also use
Japanese Honeysuckle as cover
and protection. Wild Turkey, Northern Bobwhite, Eastern Cottontail,
squirrels, American Toad, salamanders, frogs, and many insects do
this. Deer often use honeysuckle growing on the ground as a
bed.

As mentioned above,
some people love Japanese Honeysuckle and some people hate it. Even
though it crowds out native
plants, many people grow it on purpose, especially as a groundcover.
Others grow it because they like the smell it gives off in early
Summer and the pretty flowers which attract wildlife. Also, sometimes
Japanese Honeysuckle can crowd out other climbing plants which are
undesirable, such as Poison Ivy.